1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coding station for a mail sorting system, having a first conveying section, in particular a conveying belt, conveying letter stacks to a working area within the view and reach of a seated operator. The operator inputs codings with his or her right hand via a coding unit and can feed the letters individually, in the conveying direction, to a further conveying section.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A coding station is shown, for example, in the brochure "Universal Sortier System fur Lang- und Gro.beta.briefe" (Universal Sorting System for Long and Large Letters) order No. AEC/M33.7.148/0694 DE, by the company AEG. The items which are to be sorted, i.e. the long and large letters, are fed in stacks, from the right, to an operator who performs the manual coding with his or her right hand and uses his or her left hand to convey further the letters which are to be separated. The letter stacks are transported via a horizontally running conveying section. This results in the operator having to view the letters which are to be obliquely, in each case. Furthermore, the angle through which the letters which are to be separated have to be pivoted in order to be fed in to the further feeding section of the system is relatively large.
Lectern-like conveying sections in distributing machines for flat articles, in particular mail, are shown in the publication TOP "Verteilmaschine fur flache Sendungen" by the company CEGELEC CGA. In this known distributing machine, however, the respective feeding directions are quite different from those in the present invention.